Question

Consider the importance of ethics in sociological research. Thank you.

Answer 1

The importance of ethics in sociological research is for several reasons;

Adhering to norms promotes the aims of the research, such as knowledge, truth, avoidance of error and fabrication. Ethical standards promote the values, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness, which are essential to collaborative work. Ethical norms in research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review are important in giving due credit to the researcher. Further,

the ethical norms ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public. For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects protections, through informed consent and animal care and use are necessary for making sure that researchers who are funded by public money are accountable to the public.